Soft Pull apart rolls

 This is the easiest roll recipe as all you need is to gather all the measured ingredients into a big bowl, knead and let rise. There is no two part step like the regular bread making where the wet ingredients are mixed first, dry ingredients are sifted together and mixed in increments..

2 cups warm water
2 tbsp dry yeast (I used RED star, rapid rise)
2 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1/3 cup sugar
5-5 1/2 cups bread flour

 1 egg white + 1 tbsp milk, lightly beaten for the glaze

Mix the water, sugar, butter, salt, dry milk, eggs and 5 c. flour together until combined. Add the last 1/2-1 c. of flour to the dough (if  the dough is too sticky ).  If using a kitchen aid mixer, let the mix knead on high for 5 minutes until the dough becomes slightly stiff and stretchy.

Rise the dough until doubled in size. About 1 hr (2 hr tops if the house is cold)

Shape the dough into balls and place  30 rolls on a cookie sheet (5 rolls by 6 rolls).

Second rise  on a cookie sheet until the  rolls begin to touch. Brush the tops with beaten egg whites and milk.

 Bake at 350 degrees on the middle rack for 25-30 minutes. Butter tops after roll are out of the oven.

Pretzels- Auntie Anne's copycat

I found it! The Auntie Anne's pretzel recipe!
 Here it is, under the name almost famous...almost? Really? Auntie anne, that's OK, I think you have arrived!

Finding THE recipe, OK, I get it...not any big achievement

Asiago and Romano cheese rolls

M's favourite over the past year has been the new addition of cheese. A boy who loved to snack on string cheese and grilled cheese (mainly made of mozzarella) all these years has made an upgrade to Asiago cheese.  It opened up a whole another world for him!
 He loves  Asiago cheese bagels, tortilla toasted with Asiago, Quesadilla with Asiago, pizza bites topped with Asiago. Can one get serious medical condition from excessive Asiago binge? 

Here are his fav rolls  which he loves to eat hot off the oven with cold butter. Recipe is similar to laadi paav with the exception of placing the rolls with a little extra space so it spreads during 2nd proofing (2nd rise). Cheese lovers rejoice!

 In my 'To bake' list,  Parmesan knots from the Gourmet magazine is next.

2 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
2 tbsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Asiago cheese
1/2 cup Romano cheese
1 stick butter, cold, roughly chopped
5-5 1/2 cups AP Flour

Proof the yeast with warm water and sugar for 15 minutes in a mixer bowl.

Mix in eggs and rest (except the cheese) of the ingredients and mix on high for 5 minutes until the dough becomes slightly stiff and stretchy.  You can knead the cheese by hand if you are worried to ruin the shredded cheese texture. Add in cheeses and mix one last time. Scrape the bowl to make sure the bottom does not sticky. Cover the bowl with a wet kitchen towel and let the dough rise until doubled in size.

Punch the dough to deflate air and divide into 3 balls and further dividing each ball into 10 . This helps get even sized rolls. Place thirty rolls on a cookie (baker's half sheet pan)sheet (5 rolls by 6 rolls). Place the sheet pan in the oven to rise (No, we are not baking yet so don't turn the oven on).


  Let them rise on a cookie sheet until the rolls begin to touch each other filling all gaps. About 1 hour.

 Bake at 350 degrees on the middle rack for 25-30 minutes. Lightly butter the tops (cold butter from the fridge makes this part easy) after roll are out of the oven.

Rustic Italian bread

This was always a 'must do' for me. As much as I love to bake, I'd hate to see my hard work go down the drain if my bread didn't have the right structure, perfect crust and the unforgettable taste that makes one want for more....and I have ruthlessly done so, many many times :P

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I have been on a quest to achieve the three things mentioned above in

One bread

. If the texture was right, the crust wasn't 'crusty', right crust had a blah kind of taste. All that came to an end today! A whole week of baking sourdough loaves, perfecting the 'tang' along with the qualities mentioned above has finally put me in my happy place. now, I've moved on to Italian bread, using the recipe below for baguette & french bread & having a sense of pride to accomplishing a bread lover's dream (err...did I forget to say this was my husbands dream more than mine? Yeah, it is, sigh!)

baking doesn't have to be so intimidating. Unlike cooking, baking is an exact formula. Follow it to the tee & you'll amaze yourself like I am. :D

courtesy: Pillsbury bread flour packet
Ingredients:
bread flour 3 cups
water( warm 100to 110F) 1 cup
1 packet (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
Olive oil 2 tbs
Sugar 2 tbs
Salt 1/2 tsp
1 egg
cornmeal

Combine dry ingredients [flour, sugar, salt, yeast] together im a large bowl. Add warm water & oil; mix well. Knead dough for 10 mins. I used my stand mixer to save time. Place dough in lightly greased (oil) bowl; cover and let rise in a warm place ( 80 to 85F) for 30 to 40 mins.
After letting the dough rise, punch down the dough & rest on counter for 15 mins. Shape dough into baguette- shaped loaf, about 12" long. Place dough o cornmeal coated sheet pan. Cover, let rise in warm place 35 to 40 mins or until doubled in size.
Heat oven to 375F. With a sharp knife, make 1 deep lengthwise slash on top. brush loaf with beaten egg white. bake for 25 to 35 mins or until loaf sounds hollow when lightly tapped.

Sourdough bread

Sourdough 101
Don't freak out looking at the pictorial....it is just broken in parts so a beginner can do it with no(or less) confusion. It's pretty easy considering that I've failed a few times and came up with a no-fail recipe. I guarantee it!

Ingrediemts needed are pretty much what we always have ready. Theres nothing much to it. Really! What gives this bread a 'tang' is what we need to have ready a day in advance.






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A starter:
Mix together 1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup warm water, 1/2 cup yogurt and 1 tsp yeast(optional) and let sit for 12-24 hrs.
I left mine for a full 24 hrs.
At this point you can do one of two things:
a) take half and follow rest of the procedure with it or share/discard the second half
b) keep the second half & feed half cup water and 1/2 cup flour and let sit 24 hrs for another day of bread making/pancakes/muffins/scones etc.
It can also be saved in refrigerator, loosely covered and keep feeding it every week and this lasts good for a whole year( some bakers say, indefinitely) provided, u take half out and add half cup of each water and flour, religiously. That is another topic with a longer explanation and for another day.

So here's my starter all mixed in & ready to work its magic.


This is how it looks next day. Add 1 1/2 cup flour and 3 cups water and mix well.



This is how it looks after 12 hrs. Let it sit 12 more hrs to get the tang.


24 hrs later, you will see a well fermented batter.


Add 2 to 2 1/2 cups of flour, 3 tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp salt, 1tsp sugar and mix well to make a pliable dough.


This is how your dough should look like....non sticky and smooth.


5-6 hrs later, the dough has doubled up in volume. You'll know it is ready when you poke a hole at the center & the dent stays in.


Take a look at the beautiful gluten that was working hard to make it look like this...stretchy, yeasty smell & pliable. Its time to punch it down, shape into whatever your heart desires. Typically a loaf, baguette, Boule or rolls.



I shaped mine into lump (talk about being lazy. In my defense, all the wait for the dough to be ready was tiring enough!). Set aside for 1 hr (OR until it has doubled up in volume) to proof( second rise).


Mist the risen dough with water (for crisp crust) and bake for 17- 20 mins @ 450F. For a better color, use beaten egg white as a wash instead of water.
My baked bread sort looked pale...sigh! I wasn't happy with the color but the taste was 'to die for'. The smell that filled my kitchen was amazing. Absolutely a keeper recipe for us, I'll work at it to achieve the color as well as I see many more breads coming out of my oven.
* A well baked bread should sound hollow when tapped on and the crust should feel crisp when poked. Yeah, I can be crazy like that!


Now admire the beautiful bread, pat yourself on the back and bite into the bread with a pat of butter.

Garlic, pesto, marinara bread

Recipe is same as the Rustic Italian bread, rolled into a french bread shape.

Paav

After much thought and a lot of research for the desired texture, later, I tried my hand at making paav and made it a few times to achieve the laadhi paav taste. I am pretty pleased with the texture, the appearance and the taste.  My neighbour, my kids and  a good friend gave me a good review  as they were eating the warm bread, fresh out of the oven..... all the above combination made me one happy baker! I hope it will make the others who try this just as ecstatc.
 Makes 24 paav's
Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp dry yeast
5 tbsp oil
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 cups warm water

Method:
In a cup of warm water, dissolve sugar and add yeast. Let sit for 15 mins. The liquid should now look foamy on the surface, which assures the validity of yeast. (If it has no froth, discard & start fresh with a new yeast).

In a wide mixing bowl add flour,oil,salt and the remaining cup of warm water + the frothy yeast mixture. Knead to a smooth dough and set it aside for 3 hrs to raise and let the yeast do its magic.

3 hrs later,the dough should have been proofed up. Punch down to delflate.

Grease the pan with butter. I used 9 X 13 glass pan once and an oval porcelain casserole the other time and had no problem with removal of finished paav with both the kind of bakeware.

Make little balls out of the dough and place then in the pan leaving alittle gap between the bread so it has enough room to rise again. After arranging the dough balls, cover with saran wrap and let it sit in the oven for 2 hrs ( without heating the oven). The dough should now  have risen again and all the gaps should be filled up by now.

Remove pan from the oven. Pre heat the oven to 375F. Brush the top of the paav with beaten egg whites or milk. Egg whites gives a nice glaze and darker color ( the picture with the oval paav) and milk has a lighter colored tops (pic with the rectangle dish). Bake for 20 to 25 mins. Remove from the oven and let it cool on the counter top for about 15 mins.

Remove from pan and serve with the bhaji made for the Paav or the  vada paav. Yum!